Cyber-diaspora starts to click

Ladies and Gents, presenting JewTube! Irreverent videos styled for the Jewish sense of humor are being uploaded as we speak. Funnny new websites have been running for a week, and Californians Jeremy Kosen and Sarah Lefton of "Chosen Couture" have tapped a niche for innovative Jewish youth who seek a virtual community unencumbered by elders. (The rapping rabbi featured on JewTube.co.uk pre-dates all this fuss.)
Some of the joke items are rather iffy: like the toilet seat cover with a matzah pattern and the slogan "let my people go." Or a custom-made yarmulke for your pet dog. If you find this more Yuck than Yuk, download the US-Israeli star Nathalie Portman rapping or spoofs of Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen).

JewTube has already attracted interest from Beth Hatefutsoth, the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv. The museum's director, Hasia Israeli, met with Kosen and asked permission to use his site to upload footage from the 1920s and 30s taken by Jewish amateur photographers in East Europe. "Such a site would allow me to set up a virtual museum, accessible to all Jews all over the world," she said.

The new website was promoted at the ROI Global Summit for Young Jewish Innovators, in Jerusalem last week. It's a keeper.